


enchanted to meet you

by laylamcadams



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Book 3: The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus), F/F, F/M, Light Angst, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28247034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laylamcadams/pseuds/laylamcadams
Summary: A small-town grocery store in Canada seems to stand still in time. Day in and day out, tired customers filter through, dragging their feet to the ever-present tune of the ticking analogue clock. However, on one oppressively hot summer afternoon, seven runaway teens with medieval weapons tumble in. One shot about the ways their lives intersect for brief moments with unsuspecting, average people.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Piper McLean/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	enchanted to meet you

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set in the middle of a somewhat canon-divergent Mark of Athena, if the seven had to travel to a small town grocery store in Canada after fighting Hercules to find food and replacement ship parts. Also Jason and Piper aren't a couple here.

_ "My thoughts will echo your name, until I see you again _

_ These are the words I held back, as I was leaving too soon _

_ I was enchanted to meet you" _

The dimly lit grocery store felt frozen in time. The absence of exterior windows rendered it impossible to tell whether the sun had set, as the oppressive fluorescent lights coloured everything in an awkward shade of orange. Madison glanced at the analogue clock ticking slowly away above a selection of stale bread and overripe bananas. Its beats were the ever present heartbeat of the family owned store; they were the steady background to the irregular  _ click  _ of the barcode scanner, the faint murmur of children who stood on their tiptoes to ask red-faced for a package of raisins from Madison’s drawer, the  _ squeak _ of grocery store carts that had never seen oil in their twenty years of service. 

That morning (as Madison had ascertained from her quick glance at the clock), there was a ruddy-faced man with meaty hands choosing between two varieties of pre-packaged crackers, and a pale woman holding a baby against her hip with her right hand, and a lipstick-stained cigarette was perched in her left hand. 

Madison sighed. Normally she liked people-watching when the store was quiet and her till was empty, liked the way people’s lives intersected with her own for a brief moment as they entered the store, liked guessing who they were and where they’d come from and where they were going. However, this morning in particular seemed to thunder with its silence, almost as if the whole store was holding its breath. Dust particles seemed frozen as they hung from light bulbs, and the store seemed to be muffled under the oppressive heat.

Madison adjusted the receipt paper in its holder. The pink strips of hair she’d dyed last week instead of studying for her biology midterm fell in her face, and she shook them aside impatiently.

The bell in front of the store rung loudly, cutting through the smokey haze, as a group of teenagers tumbled inside. 

Madison could tell they were teenagers from the black-haired skater boy’s beat-up converse, the oversized carpenter jeans on the girl with braided hair, and the mischievous smirk on the hispanic-looking boy with curly brown hair. 

What did  _ not  _ mark them as typical teenagers were the swords, arrows, and daggers they all carried in holsters, slung haphazardly over their shoulders, or in jean pockets. 

Madison’s heart thumped. She could feel the polyester employee shirt scratch against her throat. The mother in aisle three spared the teens no more than a half glance, turning back to the cigarette she’d been smoking, while the ruddy-faced man was nowhere to be seen. 

“Okay,” began the tall blonde girl, “five minutes. That’s all I’m giving you, Leo.”

The curly haired boy - Leo, Madison assumed - grinned. He pulled a piece of paper out of a toolbelt slung around his waist. “ ‘Kay. Sparky and Mclean take snacks and assorted carbohydrates-”

The brown-skinned indie girl with carpenter jeans rolled her eyes, and saluted. The blond white boy with glasses turned to follow her.

“-okay, Aquaman and-”

“Don’t you dare.” The blonde girl narrowed her eyes. Madison could feel the heat rise in her cheeks, and she dared a glance at the girl’s knife. 

“-and Annabeth-”

“Thank you.”

“-take the medicine aisle. Which leaves Precious Metals and Bear-Man to nutritional staples-”

“ _ Bear Man? _ ” the Asian boy with closely cropped black hair complained. The small dark-skinned girl looked annoyed. 

“-and me,” the boy continued, undeterred, as he gestured proudly to himself, “to figure out how the fuck we’re going to find spare parts for a flying ship in the middle of absolutely nowhere.” 

“ _ Canada _ isn’t-”

“C’mon Frank,” the dark-skinned girl took his hand as she turned to go, “we don’t need to start that argument again.”

The athletic blonde girl and black-haired skater boy headed to the back of the store, leaving Leo to frown at the list he held in his callused hands. 

“Uh, hey,” Madison said, swallowing, “if you need help finding, you know-” she made a gesture with her hands meant to encompass the entirety of the run-down grocery store, “anything…”

Leo looked up from the sheet of torn notebook paper in his hands. He glanced over at the far side of the store with the sparse medicine aisle, where the skater boy was goofily holding up a container of blue multivitamins shaped like dinosaurs as the blonde girl tried to hide a smile, then shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, okay. You got a tools section?”

“Yeah,” Madison said, “not sure it has anything to fix a  _ flying ship  _ but you know, nails and screws and hammers and whatnot.”

Leo looked abashed. “It’s a...science project.”

“Yeah?” Madison matched the kid’s smirk from earlier. He looked to be about a year or two younger than her. “Does your science teacher make you carry medieval weapons around too?” 

Leo’s eyes widened. “You  _ see _ them?”

Madison opened her mouth to ask what kind of stupid question that was when the indie girl and pale blond boy came running up aisle two, holding expired chip packages and soft drinks in their arms. 

“Check it out!” The girl yelled, dodging a display of canned soups with the labels peeling off, “we found your favourite kind, Fire Boy!” She was wearing a hello kitty tank top and black carpenter pants, which made a scuffing noise as she skidded to a halt in front of the till and unceremoniously dumped her newfound goods on the conveyor belt. 

“Maybe, uh,” Leo made a slicing motion in front of his neck, “on that stuff?” He flicked his eyes over to the cashier standing in front of them.

Madison crossed her arms. “Nice dagger,” she said to the new girl. 

The girl, who had previously ignored her, gave her an appraising glance. Her eyes seemed to shift from a light pink to a deep blue. 

The blond boy, who’d just joined them, took out a golden coin from his pocket. “You can see through the mist? Who are you?” he asked, his fingers twitching. 

Madison pointed at her name tag, then rolled her eyes. “Don’t freak out. It’s not  _ that  _ smokey in here. Besides, I’m not judging if you guys like to do medieval battle reenactments in grocery stores. I think it’s kinda cool, actually.”

“ _ Re-enactments _ ,” Leo muttered under his breath, too low for Madison to hear,“I wish.”

The indie girl elbowed him. “Yeah, we’re all super into, like, Greek mythology and shit,” she deadpanned. 

The blond snorted.

Leo reached up to ruffle his hair. “Jason here is a big fan of Ancient Rome, as we’ve recently discovered.” 

“Hey!” Jason protested, “I think I’m about as big of a fan as you all are right about now - of either Greeks  _ or  _ Romans.”

Madison watched the three bicker with interest. “Well, I don’t exactly know much about myths and stuff-”

“-lucky-” muttered Leo.

“-but I’ve seen  _ Hercules _ , and that was kinda cool,” she finished.

Jason and the girl exchanged glances.

“We’re not the biggest fans of him at the moment,” Leo admitted.

Madison let out a snort. “What? Drama in the Teenage-Greek-and-Roman-Battle-Reenactment community?”

The girl laughed. “No, we’re just...skeptical of him because he’s kind of a dick. Like a big one.”

Jason flushed. 

Madison took the moment to take in the girl’s chopped hair, the tan of her skin which was currently being back-lit against the dim lighting, and the shiny gloss she wore on her lips, which were currently being pulled into a grimaced sort of smile. 

“Done!” announced the Asian kid -  _ Bear Boy _ , Madison remembered - as he dumped another stack of food, this time containing a few loaves of bread, some eggs, and bananas, onto the tills conveyor belt. The dark skinned girl followed, her curls bouncing as she stepped.

“You guys waiting for the other two?” Madison asked.

“Nah,” Leo waved his hand, “they’ll be along in a minute. Probably took the time to have a quick make-out session before we have to get going.”

The girl’s curls stopped bouncing. “What?” she asked, her eyes widening. 

“Oh, sure,” Leo grinned, “hey, Frank, remember when you caught them-”

“Oh god,” Frank said, shuddering. “Not the night in the stables. Don’t remind me.”

“Well, when those two  _ lovebirds  _ get back, we’ll be paying for all this together, if that’s what you mean,” the indie girl said, budging in front of the two boys. “You can start ringing it up, if you want. We’re kinda in a hurry anyway.”

As Madison began bringing the items through the till, she noticed the blond boy sneaking narrowed glances at her, his fingers twitching around the same golden coin. The younger girl reached her hand subtly into her pocket. Frank crept one hand around the base of his bow. Only Leo and the indie girl looked unaffected.

Madison gave a much more pained smile at the two of them, her heart thumping once again. “So...what’s your favourite Greek god?” she asked, hoping to diffuse the awkward tension.

Frank whipped one arrow through his bow, while the girl pulled out a sword. “What does that mean?” she demanded. 

Madison held up her hands. “What the hell,” she said, giving a  _ help me!  _ look to the other three. “I didn’t know that was such a loaded question among teenage Greek battle enthusiasts!”

“Relax, you two,” Leo told them, as the girl let out a muttered “ _ Greek?”,  _ and Frank a  _ “ _ battle  _ enthusiasts?” _

“I’m a big fan of Hera,” the indie girl broke in, with a monotone expression. 

“Piper!” Jason protested. 

Leo let out a strangled laugh, while the other two had various mixes of shock and horror etched on to their faces. 

“Don’t let Annabeth catch you saying that,” warned Frank. 

“Let me hear what?” The athletic blonde girl - Annabeth - and the skater boy dumped a few cans onto the till.

“We were discussing our favourite  _ Greek myths,” _ Jason said, raising his eyebrows significantly.

Madison finished scanning the food items, and moved onto the tins the last two had put down. “Piper says she’s a Hera fan - whatever that means,” she cut in, “heard you disagreed on that.”

Annabeth glared at her friend, while her boyfriend gave a worried look at the sky. 

Piper stuck out her tongue in retaliation. Leo snorted.

“Where you guys headed, anyway?” Madison could tell the subject was getting dicey - apparently the Teenage-Greek-Slash-Roman-Battle-Reenactment-Community was quite contentious. 

“Why do you need to know?” demanded Annabeth. Madison shrank back. She didn’t want to be on the receiving end of this girl's wrath. Judging from Leo’s earlier acquiescence - not to mention the sharp dagger she was currently gripping - this girl was not to be messed with. 

Her boyfriend instantly tensed, picking up on Annabeth’s tone. His sea-foam eyes turned stormy as he assessed the situation, and he seemed to grow taller as he withdrew a pen from his back pocket. “I am  _ so  _ not in the mood for cheese ’n’ wieners right now,” he said.

Madison failed to choke down a surprised laugh. “I have no idea what the hell any of you are talking about,” she said, “but my day just got a lot more interesting.”

“Tell me about it,” said Leo. “This morning alone we already managed to get caught by a herd of-” 

Piper covered his mouth. “Let’s just pay for this, m’kay? Before those  _ things  _ can catch back up to us.”

Madison didn’t bother to keep up with the conversation. She dutifully read out their total, and held her hand out for the expected change. 

Jason reached into his pocket, and pulled out another couple of coins. 

“The hell are these?” Madison asked, staring at the gold coins, which were inscripted with what appeared to be Ancient Greek. 

“Oh, fucking hell,” Piper said under her breath as she dug out a gold Amex card, and swiped it. 

Leo covered Hazel’s ears. “Not in front of the children!” he said sarcastically.

Madison finished bagging their groceries, then pushed the bags to the end of the counter. 

“Well, good luck in battle,” she said formally. “Defeat the Trojans, and all that.”

Piper grinned. “Thanks-” she paused to read Madison’s name tag, “-Madison.”

Jason grabbed three of the bags, and tried to fend off the skater boy, who was trying to steal them from him. “Dude! You can’t carry them all,” he protested.

Frank and the other girl each grabbed a bag, following Annabeth out of the store. Leo trailed after them, giving Madison a final wink. “C’mon guys,” Annabeth called to the bickering teens, “you can fight over who gets to be the most macho grocery bag carrying champion once we’re back on the  _ Argo II. _ ”

Piper hung back to collect the receipt. “You’re pretty cool, you know,” she said finally. “And I like your style.”

Madison gestured to her black, polyester uniform. “It  _ is  _ pretty groundbreaking. The whole small-town-1970’s-family-owned-grocery-store aesthetic.”

Piper’s cheeks reddened, and she looked uncharacteristically awkward. “I-no...I just meant, you know, your hair and nose piercing and stuff…”

“Kidding.” Madison leaned back into the till’s counter. “I like your style too. Maybe I could help you dye your hair sometime - I’m kind of known as a hairstylist around here.”

The receipt printer gave a low  _ beep _ as it spat out the paper. Madison ripped it haphazardly. 

“Yeah.” Piper’s lips formed a tentative smile. “The seven of us have this...assignment thing we have to finish. But maybe we can come back here sometime.”

Madison grabbed her pen, and began writing on the receipt. “You guys must be really dedicated, huh?” She capped the pen, then handed over the paper to the other girl. “Give me a call, hey? When you can. I can’t wait to know who won your battle...thing.”

Piper’s eyes turned a solemn hazel as she stared at the numbers written on the page. “Me neither,” she said after what felt to Madison like minutes.

Madison could sense the tension in her shoulders, and she reached over the counter to give Piper a tight hug. The other girl relaxed for a second, tucking her head under Madison’s chin, before pulling apart. Faint scars and bruises littered her face, illuminated by the fluorescent light, and her jeans were covered with mud stains. The tight line of her jaw and the clench of her fists seemed unconscious efforts at masking the red rims now lining her eyes. 

Madison thought back to other teens; the resigned slump to Jason’s shoulders, the restless tapping of Leo’s fingers against his toolbelt, Annabeth’s eyes rapidly scanning the store. The bruises etched onto each one of their faces, the traces of dried blood spilled on their clothes, and their restless energy that was out of place for the grocery store that was frozen in time.

“Well...good luck. I’m rooting for you,” Madison said at last. “Kick some Trojan ass for me, hey?”

Piper grinned, her earlier grief and apprehension hidden behind her smile. She gave a peace sign in farewell as she turned to leave, receipt paper folded carefully in her pocket. The  _ ding  _ of the entrance bell signified her exit, as the store seemed to freeze in time again; the dust particles stilled, the lighting dimmed, the smokey haze covered the store once more, and the analogue clock  _ tick tick ticked  _ the store’s familiar heartbeat. Madison couldn’t tell whether the hitch in her breath was from the haze or from worry over the seven strange teens that had briefly breathed life into the oppressive store. 

  
  



End file.
